Benefits of High Impedance Headphones??

[tosehee]

Can someone explain, in layman's term, the benefits of the high impedance headphones?

I did the search on google, and all I have found are..

* you can hook up to multiple headphones in parallel..

What. Is this it?

I am total noob in regard to audiophile (just recently got interested). So, please, bear with me with some of these stupid questions.

Thanks in advance.

 

[tosehee]

any experts?

 

[epaludo]

Search and you shall find what you're looking for ...

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...high+impedance
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...high+impedance
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...high+impedance
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...high+impedance

 

[tosehee]

thanks a lot. For some reason, I couldn't find those...

Off to read.. thx again.

 

[MaZa]

This means that in studio enviroments with studio amplifiers with multiple headphone-outs, you can plug multiple high impedance headphones without ruining the sound or stressing the amplifier. Low impedance, while efficient in volume, need more current so its not very effective to put a lot of them to singler amplifier.

 

[tosehee]

I read all those threads.. So, to summarize..

The high and low impedance is really the opposite. Most low headphones does crappy job with noise, distortion, and bass reproduction. In order for these headphones to reproduce them properly, they need low voltage, high current amps.

On the opposite, the high impedance headphones are harder to drive with, but adding amps that provides high voltage and low current essentially provides the same sound quality.

The benefit, in this case, is most amps can provide more voltage and less current in easier manner. Also, the noise, distortion, and clipping is less likely to happen with high impedance headphones when properly powered by amps.

Is this about right?

 

[lerio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tosehee /img/forum/go_quote.gif The high and low impedance is really the opposite. Most low headphones does crappy job with noise, distortion, and bass reproduction. In order for these headphones to reproduce them properly, they need low voltage, high current amps.

I'll let Pro here reply about that but earing fantastic sound of my Grado particularly for bass something is wrong here

MaZa, you say high impedance headphones are mainly suitable for studio use (which it's true as i know), why people use high impedance for home use ?

 

[BIG POPPA]

You are less likely to blow the phones with the high resistance. That is good enough for some.

 

[LeonvB]

Quote:

Is this about right?

No, that's oversimplification. Truth is it's much more complex.

Most circuits are intended for high impedance loads. Take opamps for instance: most only work well with high impedance loads (600 and up). That's one of the reasons fi. the K701 is "hard" to amplify. With the low resistance it has and the relatively high power requirements, it simply needs more amps than most headphone circuits are able to provide.

@Lerio: The cheapest solution for headphone out in todays market is an opamp. Want to guess what is most commonly used?

 

[fortney]

Look at the Szekeres or Poorman's Zen amps if you want to drive low impedance (or other) phones with lots of bass and current. Of course they are DIY, but not so hard.

F

 

[lerio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeonvB /img/forum/go_quote.gif @Lerio: The cheapest solution for headphone out in todays market is an opamp. Want to guess what is most commonly used?

opamp ? must be a abreviation of a word who should be added on Sticky topic of abreviations and acronyms we still need

 

[aaron-xp]

it's the operational amplifier (if I am not wrong).

 

[MaZa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lerio /img/forum/go_quote.gif opamp ? must be a abreviation of a word who should be added on Sticky topic of abreviations and acronyms we still need

Its a small chip, like this.
http://www.nrgrecording.de/assets/im...en/a_opamp.jpg

It has different types of uses, and usage in amplifier is one of them.

 

[majkel]

There is another reason for high impedance headphones being more popular in the past - tube amplifiers. They were much more present in the studios in mid-twenty century. Tubes like high biasing voltages and have limited current efficiency, so high impedances match to these conditions. Nowadays portable sources become more and more popular, and they tend to be supplied from as low voltages as possible in order to lower power dissipation in digital circuits. So there is no sufficient voltage to drive high impedance headphones, and on the other hand, solid state devices have no limits regarding current efficiency. You can use bigger transistors, connect them in parallel, and it won't take much place in the amplifier. Moreover, solid state studio amplifiers don't need to have common output stage, so each heaphone jack might have it's own amplifier without much sacrificing amplifier dimensions. So, low impedance headphones are most probably intended to be universal and listenable from any source.

 

[lerio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaZa /img/forum/go_quote.gif Its a small chip, like this. http://www.nrgrecording.de/assets/im...en/a_opamp.jpg It has different types of uses, and usage in amplifier is one of them.

Thank's